iPhone shipments surpass BlackBerry in Canada

RIM is losing grip on its own turf, as Apple has surpassed iPhone shipments compared to BlackBerry in Canada, according to recent IDC data. Current estimates place RIM's 2011 sales in Canada at 2.08 million, versus the 2.85 million iPhones sold in the Great White North. Considering in 2008 BlackBerry out-sold iPhone 5-to-1, this is a pretty big change and a major symbolic victory for Apple. Meanwhile, U.S. sales revenue are down 45%, which, combined with the 23% drop in Canada, resulted in a global revenue dip of 5.9%. Of course, RIM is still doing reasonably well elsewhere in the world, but a hit like that just about cancels out any momentum BlackBerry has internationally.

As a Canadian and a guy who still uses a BlackBerry, it's a little sad to see RIM slipping, but they're simply taking way too long to get their next-gen devices out the door. The new CEO, Thorsten Heins, seems set on getting products shipped on time and improving the marketing message, but even ardent BlackBerry loyalists have been waiting for things to pick up for awhile now; it's no surprise to see market share starting to slip.

Any BlackBerry expatriates in the house? Canadians, how do you feel about the home team losing ground?

I had BBs in the family until a few years ago. To be honest, it was because Verizon had no better phones. I find no advantage over the iPhone. Points that BB makes are:
- BBM for messaging is unique to BB. But iOS has iMessage, but cross-platform apps like Whatsapp are even more useful
- BBM uses less data. True, because RIM compresses some data on their servers. But that means all the data goes through RIM. Now you have another chokepoint for your service. If Apple has server problems you don't lose your phone service. If RIM has problems you do.
- BBM is more secure. The whole phone is encrypted. But, that results in looong startup times. Most large governments have already been given access to RIM's servers, so the data is not really secure anyway.
Problems I have had:
- Few and very expensive apps
- Migrating apps to a new phone is very time consuming if not impossible
- Frequent battery pulls are required. The Storm was a low point, but it literally ran out of memory daily or if you ran more than a few apps and required a battery pull to reset memory.
- Low res displays
- Syncing was very very awkward. Think Palm Pilot cable sync model
BB was a good phone 5 years ago and could compete with Palm and MS Mobile 5, but it has not evolved.

Arguably, they are more secure, or at least more controllable from a central point. Definitely, their wider range of hardware can be used in environments an iPhone cannot, e.g. you can buy a BB without a camera for work in a place requiring security clearance.

They typically run cheaper.

If you like hardware buttons, theirs are still the best.

Their batteries last much longer, in large part because they are in use so much less.

If you mainly care about email and you want a device laser-focused on reading and responding to email. they are pretty nice.

Considering that you can get an iPhone 4 got $99 I disagree that BB is cheaper.

In my experience, a BB with a touch screen has poor battery life. Not even a full day. Nowhere near an iPhone

BB email is overrated. The best email experience is gmail on Android. Android gmail has instant push and and LED indicator. My experience with email on a BB was a disaster. Email was frequently delivered twice, not deleted when I requested, and it wouldn't even work with Yahoo mail. I hope its better now, but unless you used BB's email it was the worst of the bunch.

For me, it's always been the physical keyboard. However hilarious they may be sometimes, autocorrect mistakes are too quickly becoming the norm - I'd rather have my e-mails clear of sloppy stuff like that if I can help it, thankewverymuch. The keyboard shortcuts that go along with that are hugely helpful. "U" in the messages app goes to the last unread message, even if you're already reading another one. This helps me plow through a backlog really quickly. There are also smart options in messages that let you mark everything before a certain point opened, which isn't something I see much of elsewhere. Small detail, but it matters.
The messages app also conglomerates messages threads from EVERYWHERE, which I personally find really convenient. Your SMS, e-mail, Facebook, Twitter, Gtalk, and lots of other communications can all pop up in that app (or not, if you want to pick and chose).
I also like the universal search implementation the best out of what's available right now. It's pretty similar to what webOS offered, in that you can start typing from a dead stop and start getting local and web results, with lots of hooks for apps. webOS even had a bit of a leg up by letting you launch into actions, like turning a query into a tweet. ICS comes close, but without the physical keyboard, you've got to tap the search bar to get started.
I like that any application can populate the system menu. This can make for a fair bit of scrolling if you've got too many apps that do it, but the fact that I can get a screenshot in two clicks whereever I am is a godsend.
BlackBerry also has themes, which is something I don't really take advantage of, but none of the other manufacturers really do it. Basically, you can change the entire icon set, fonts, and colors with a download, some free, some premium. Elecite used to make some pretty awesome ones - http://www.elecite.com/ Android widgets are a bit more functional, and you can implement themes on Android with the right launchers, but it's pretty well-established on BlackBerry at the native level - they've even got a whole section for 'em in App World.

With OS7, the only advantage the iPhone has now over the are its thousands of apps. Once BB10 phones come out, Apple will no longer be able to hide behind their fanboys/girls with minor upgrades to each new iPhone (ie iPhone 4 to iPhone 4s)

I didn't realize BB had trolls. Crackberry cracktrolls?
BTW your troll might work for Android but BB is just tooo pathetic. Every year the BB fanboys promise their new OS will be awesome. Every year its a total flop and millions dump BB.

If bb won't change their ways as far a design, development, and deployment then I'm afraid they are headed down the same path as palm. They need to do a shake up on their engineering and design staff. If u look at bb phones from 2005 and compare them the the bbs from now you would notice that's it's pretty much the same design just smaller.

I liked BB for not only the battery life but the GPS was great,it would lock my position very quickly.Plus you could drop it over and over and the device still worked like an champ but just wish I could say the same about the old trackball.What made me leave BB was that there devices weren't being upgraded to better accomadate it's users with newer specs.After an while of seeing the same device being rolled out with an new look,you just end up making the decision to cut the tie to look for something else that'll better suit the user.

BB was my first smartphone and I will always have a soft place in my heart for them but change comes too slowly for RIM products. I hope Bb10 turns over a new leaf but it will take a hell of a lot to get this iPhone out my hand.

I'm right there with you. My first smartphone was a curve. I switched over to iPhone long ago, but I still hate to see RIM flounder. I think if they could get the developers interested they would be okay but without apps you don't have jack.

I live in the nucleus of BB itself so I still see them everywhere, but a lot of my friends are planning on moving to iphones and androids soon. If you arent a buisnes user all it really has to offer is bbm

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